1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a reactor that carries out a reaction using a catalyst structure that promotes the reaction of a reaction fluid, which is the fluid as a reaction object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since a reactor (a compact reactor) that uses a minute space as a reaction field, such as a reactor in which at least one side of a flow passage cross section is approximately several millimeters, and a microreactor in which at least one side of a flow passage cross section is less than 1 millimeter, has a large specific surface area per unit volume, heat transfer efficiency is high, and a reaction rate and a yield can be improved. In addition, since convection and a diffusion mode can be arbitrarily set, control for actively setting quick mixing and density distribution can be performed. Accordingly, it becomes possible to strictly control a reaction in the above-mentioned reactor.
In such a reactor, a catalyst is arranged in a reaction-side flow passage (the reaction field), a fluid as a reaction object (hereinafter referred to as a reaction fluid) flows through the reaction-side flow passage, and thereby a reaction is promoted. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-154001 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a technology of arranging a catalyst in a reaction-side flow passage. In this technology, the catalyst is carried on a metal plate of a corrugated-plate shape (a corrugated shape), and the metal plate carrying the catalyst is installed in the reaction-side flow passage so that the catalyst is uniformly arranged throughout the reaction-side flow passage.